UPDATE: Who killed the texting ban bill?

UPDATE: Sen. Judith Zaffirini, who sponsored Craddick’s bill and authored its Senate companion, said she “doesn’t blame anybody, I just understand it’s part of the process.”

Sen. Nichols said he would give the bill a hearing, and he kept his word, she said. “He never said he would give us a vote. We thought we had the votes, but he said he didn’t.”

Ultimately, though, Zaffirini said she thinks the proposal lacked confidence because of Perry’s previous veto. “Really, I think the reason it was killed was that the governor vetoed it last session,” she said. “I would have hoped that it went before Perry; that we could send it to him and let him decide, but that’s not my decision.”

ORIGINAL POST: A statewide ban on texting-while-driving died with the end of the regular 83rd legislative session, but lawmakers continue to point fingers at each other for the bill’s second consecutive failure.

Sen. Robert Nichols chairs the Senate’s Transportation Committee.

Rep. Tom Craddick authored a bill that would have banned texting-while-driving.

Under House Bill 63, written by Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, motorists who used handheld wireless devices to “read, write or send a text-based communication” while driving would be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $100 for first-time offenders. Texting would have been permitted if the vehicle was stopped.

Nichols, Craddick wrote, “thought that he knew better for Texas when he refused to allow a vote on this bill that would save lives….Chairman Nichols single-handedly denied lawmakers that opportunity and denied Texans a chance at making our roads safer.”

A spokeswoman for Nichols referred a reporter to his quotes in a recent Amarillo Globe-News story, in which he deflected Craddick’s blame. He insinuated that it was the fault of Gov. Rick Perry, who vetoed a similar ban in the 2011 session and had already hinted at a second veto, if the bill reached his desk.

“There were a number of members in the committee who wanted to vote no, and you had a lot of members on the floor who were going to vote no, and you have a governor who vetoed it last time who has never given any indication that he wouldn’t veto it this time,” Nichols said. “It’s a lot of pain to put the members through for a likely veto,” he said. “If it is not going to pass in the governor’s mansion, why do we need to go through this?”

In his op-ed, Craddick pledged to bring the ban up again in two years, assuming motorists are still using their fingers for texting and not just pointing.